


20 Minutes

by WhiteBAG



Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: Bradley is my favorite character from the show so here I am dunking on him, Character Study, F/M, Gen, Time Travel, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 12:44:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18828907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteBAG/pseuds/WhiteBAG
Summary: "No... No, no, NO!""Um, hello?" Bradley wrote back, not knowing what to expect. "Who are you?""Oh my god, I cannot BELIEVE this is actually happening, this is literally the worst thing that has ever happened to me and that's saying something!""Answer my question.""Yeah, sure, I'll answer it, jeez! If you want to know the answer SO BADLY. Get ready for this: I'm you. From the future."





	20 Minutes

**Author's Note:**

> This was absolutely inspired by that one scene from Homestuck. Just so you know.

A speeding black limousine passed by the school building. It was moving too fast and after taking a turn something small fell out the opened window and disappeared into the patch of grass, next to a bench. 

The long car disappeared as fast as it appeared, in a burst of light. As if it was never there in the first place. 

* * *

Bradley Nicholson was walking home from school when he noticed it - a small device, something between a watch and a phone, laying in the grass. Someone must have dropped this. 

He picked it up. Finders, keepers.

The device was on. The screen was opened on an empty chat. Bradley tried pressing buttons on the side, sliding his fingers across the screen, but no matter what he did, it seemed impossible to leave that window. As if the chat was this device's only function.

"That's lame." Bradley mumbled to himself.

He sat on the nearby bench and started typing. Maybe the device could at least serve him as a notebook or something.

"This watch/phone belongs to Bradley Nicholson." he wrote.

Surprisingly, someone answered the chat, almost immediately.

"No... No, no, NO!"

"Um, hello?" Bradley wrote back, not knowing what to expect. "Who are you?"

"Oh my god, I cannot BELIEVE this is actually happening, this is literally the worst thing that has ever happened to me and that's saying something!"

"Answer my question."

"Yeah, sure, I'll answer it, jeez! If you want to know the answer SO BADLY. Get ready for this: I'm you. From the future."

"Yeah, right." Bradley rolled his eyes. "That's the fakest thing I've ever heard."

"Unbelievable, I can't believe I am going to spend another twenty minutes with you! I hate you SO much!"

"Yeah, see? That's what I'm talking about. There's no way I would write something like that."

"JDSFBHDBFSJDFBJS"

"How can I know for sure that you are me from the future? Tell me something only I would know."

"You're sitting on a bench, you have a branch for the right arm and you believe with your all heart that Melissa Chase is your soulmate!"

Bradley's eyes went wide. He wrote back:

"Whoa there! How did you know that?"

"Hdjdjgkjkdfjeiefh BECAUSE! I'm you!! From the future!!! Boy, I knew you would react this way but it still was infuriating!"

Bradley thought about it for a moment, before answering:

"Ok, maybe you're not lying. How far in the future are you, exactly?"

"About twenty minutes. I'm still sitting on that bench."

"Oh."

"I remember exactly why you started writing on this hellish device in the first place. So come on, go ahead. Let's get this over with."

"This sucks." Bradley winced. "You know, I started writing here because... I wanted to rant, I guess? But now that you're here, reading all this... I don't know if I want to do that anymore."

"Too late for second thoughts, I know that you will write it anyway because I already did. Like, I know what you will write because I'm you, please, just... Just get this over with! This whole situation is more complicated than it needs to be. Write the same thing I did twenty minutes ago."

"Well, in that case..." Bradley took a deep breath. "I feel like the whole world is against me, you know?"

"Yep. I do."

"Be quiet. I'm speaking now."

"Fhjdgjjfjjdjd"

"Anyway, I feel like everything is always about Milo! I hate it!"

"Of course. You're starting your rant with Milo. How predictable. It's like you're obsessed with him, aren't you! You were obsessed with him from the beginning! You value him sooo much!"

"Hey! What did I just say? Be quiet! I'm speaking now!"

"I am you!"

"Shut it!"

"Ok, whatever! You're so annoying! I will now pretend that I have no idea what you're about to write. Go ahead."

"Anyway, like I was trying to say, everything always spins around Milo and it just drives me crazy! Whatever he does, people just like him, no matter what! He could cause the whole Danville to collapse, then somehow fix it with the help of his backpack, and people would declare him the president for saving everything, even though he was the source of the problem all along! I just don't get it! Why do people like him so much instead of me? Why do people think he's better? What does he have that I don't? What am I doing wrong?"

"Ok, that's actually a little overdramatic but you are onto something. Go on."

"One day I thought, maybe I just don't have anything that makes me stand out. Murphy's law makes Milo stand out, right? Maybe that's what people like about him. But then, I got the plant arm! And people STILL don't pay any attention to me! They tell me to get over it! I have lost my ARM, people! It got replaced with a MOVING PLANT! Don't you think that I have every single right to be angry about it? The thing feels so alien... One day I thought that maybe I should get a surgery to free myself of it... But what if my regular arm just comes back one day without any explanation? So I decided I won't do it. I don't want to remove my own arm. I just wish it was made of flesh instead of wood, you know?"

"Who wouldn't want that."

"Yeah... Sigh... Ok so... There's one more thing that I wanted to talk about... Actually maybe you would be able to help me somehow..."

"Oh no... not this part..."

"What?"

"It's going to be so embarassing!"

"Well, whatever! I'm going to write it anyway."

"Oh, I know. Hhh, just do it."

"Well... I mean. You do agree that Melissa is my soulmate, right? After I've met her I've noticed how much we have in common. We are both smart, competitive, we care a lot about our grades and we both have this..."

"Please stop talking."

"...This spark, I don't even know how to call this, honestly. It's just good chemistry, you know. She's so fierce and she's never afraid to bet everything on something she believes in."

"Meanwhile you're so afraid of your own feelings, that you're ready to cover it up with crying after an ice cream maker."

"Hey, uncalled for! You know that I loved Carla a great deal!"

"Carla was amazing, it's true. But you do have to admit... she was only a machine that you knew for a few minutes."

"How dare you! I will never stop loving her!"

"I can't... even describe... the embarassment I feel right now, you know? It's terrible. The future me was right, you really are such a joke. You had a crush on Melissa for years but you were so sure she doesn't like you anymore, you stopped fighting for her attention whatsoever and now you're trying to convince yourself that Carla was your only true love. That's really kinda pathetic. But please do go ahead and finish your thought. I know there's more you want to say."

"Well... You are kind of correct... I am afraid of talking with Melissa. Especially when she's with Milo and Zack. They spend so much time together and... she really looks like she's having fun without me... It's like I never even existed in her life. Do you... Do you think that Melissa hangs out with Milo and Zack just to spite me? To punish me for something? I mean, there was a time when I thought we really had something going on... but right now she barely looks at me anymore. Or maybe... Do you think that Milo and Zack told her to stop talking to me or..."

"Oh my god, you actually ARE the worst person ever, you know that?"

"What!"

"You're just too afraid to admit the truth! The truth is that you were sending her a lot of mixed signals, she got frustrated with you, and you lost any chances you had with her! And don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about, we're the same person! One minute you two were having a nice conversation and then, suddenly a nice conversation turns into something weird and competitive! You just enjoyed those little bantering moments so much, didn't you! You got so greedy, you really wanted to have it all! Rivalry, friendship, love, all at once! You wanted to be with her, in ANY possible way, you desperate fool! But at the end of the day you just convinced yourself that she prefers Milo and Zack over you. And what you did, instead of proving yourself wrong? You got meaner and meaner to push her away, just to prove yourself right!"

"Ok, you know what, I'm not even listening to you! Lalala!"

"Oh, grow up! You know what? I didn't understood it at the time but I will repeat something that someone wise said to me, once, twenty minutes go. Here goes! Everyone likes Milo because he's actually incredibly positive. I get it now! It's not about Murphy's law, it's about how he reacts to it! No matter what he does, he never gives up, he does everything with a smile on his face. He's a good, inspiring influence! And let me tell you, Melissa had every right to stop hanging out with you! You're so boring! All you ever do is complain!"

"No, wait, it's my turn to talk!"

"And how pretentious is that! At the end of the day, the only person who pays any attention to you is me. Who is also you! You self-absorbed piece of crap! You're not even that interesting, what in the world gave you the idea that anyone would find you worth listening to?"

"Stop saying that!"

"Everyone hates you! And they have a very good reason for it! You never stop to think that maybe you are the problem! Everyone else is, but not you! I am so done talking with you, you unpleasant jerk! You've wasted forty minutes of my life! No, actually, you are me, and that means you've wasted ALL of my life! But guess what! I've finally found the "delete all" option on this thing, like I knew I eventually would. I am going to delete this entire conversation, then I'm going to throw this device into that trash bin over there, and then I will go home and try to forget that this awful conversation has ever happened! Goodbye."

And then every single word disappeared from the chat, as if there was never any conversation in the first place. Bradley stared at the device, with his hands shaking. And after a second of two, something new appeared:

"This watch/phone belongs to Bradley Nicholson."

Oh no.

"No... No, no, NO!" Bradley wrote back.

"Um, hello? Who are you?"

He suddenly fully understood what was going on and he hated literally every single thing about it. And so he wrote:

"Oh my god, I cannot BELIEVE this is actually happening, this is literally the worst thing that has ever happened to me and that's saying something!"

"Answer my question."

"Yeah, sure, I'll answer it, jeez! If you want to know the answer SO BADLY!" Bradley laughed. It was a very bitter laugh. "Get ready for this: I'm you. From the future."


End file.
